Fairtrade Event

Following the cancellation of our Fairtrade Fortnight morning at Calne Town Hall in March due to snow, we invite you to the event which will now take place on Saturday 5th May 2018 again at Calne Town Hall 10am-1pm.

We do hope that as many as possible will attend what should be an important presentation by our Guest Speaker, Mr Baai Jabang from The Gambia, about the potential for the import of Mangoes from The Gambia, under Fairtrade conditions, where there are tens of thousands of trees 90% of whose fruit simply goes to waste.

Baai Jabang, is Director of TARUD (Trust Agency for Rural Development) and the Marlborough Brandt Group’s (MBG) partner NGO in Gunjur, a Coastal Town in The Gambia (www.mbg.org/about-mbg/gunjur)

Leaving aside the apparent therapeutic and the undoubtable gustatory qualities of mangoes for ourselves, anything we can do to support the development of that industry in The Gambia will help provide business opportunities for the young people in The Gambia who currently see no future in that country and are leaving in droves taking the perilous ‘back way’ to Europe, at the mercy of traffickers and many drowning in the Mediterranean in their attempts to get from Libya to Italy and a very uncertain future.

Dr Nick Maurice of the Marlborough Brant Group and Marlborough Fairtrade Group will attend the Calne event with Baai Jarbang and will tell us something about the Thriving Through Venture group of young people from Wiltshire schools, including St Marys and The John Bentley Schools, Calne, Marlborough College and St John’s Academy, Marlborough, and the Ridgeway School Wroughton, who are doing intensive research into the barriers to importing Mangoes and how they can be exported under Fairtrade conditions.

There will also be Fairtrade Stalls from The Coop Food, Sainburys, Traidcraft, Zaytoun and an information display about the Calne Fairtrade Community Campaign, plus short Films, refreshments and a light lunch.See Full Event Programme here: www.calnefairtrade.org.uk/fairtrade2018

In the evening in St Peter’s Church, Marlborough at 6.30pm a similar event will be held when we shall hear from, amongst others, Mr Baai Jabang, from members of the Thriving Through Venture group of young people from Wiltshire schools, and a representative from Tesco will be speaking about the conditions required to get the fruit either fresh, dried or juiced onto their shelves. Refreshments will be provided at the event.